There is a public meeting on Tuesday 12th January (12-4pm) at Warsop Town Hall. The meeting is about MDC's draft local plan. Section 6 applies directly to Warsop. Please note that the information in the plan is purely ideas about future potential. It does not mean that the ideas will come to fruition.http://www.mansfield.gov.uk/MDC_LKP_CD2.pdf

The councils always have a tough job when formulating a plan and they know they'll upset a lot of people but whatever they do, they'll upset someone. They're damned if they do and damned if they don't.

I haven't read it all and there will no doubt be some proposals that I don't like but will accept as we have to move forward if we're to get anywhere at all. I'm not sure about building on farmland and I'm surprised they're planning to build on the car park when we already have a lack of parking but a major concern is that with more housing, the A60 will be even more horrific at rush hour, although I don't see how they could make it any better.

The last time any major land was released for building was in the mid 1970s when Standens built the Stonebridge Park estate off Stonebridge Lane

We have seen a number of smaller developments built over the years, all of these have been on brown field sites including Greendale Close, The Wickets, the new development at Spion Kop, the Royal Estate, the new development at Warsop Vale Meden Vale, Pavillion Close and Moorfield Farm

The question is of course, where would be the best place to develop as a new housing estate?

There is of course the former Welbeck Pit site which is a brown field site and the former Eastwoods site but this is earmarked for the Netto development There is also land at the back of Warsop Station

Any proposal takes time to develop as there has to be public consultation

In the late 1960s Warsop exploded with new housing developments including the Rectory Gardens Estate, Manor Road estate and the Netherfield Drive estate, we also saw the building of The Burns and George Shooter Court all on green land

The Willows and River View were built on a brown field site

People need to see the good things about this report for the District but also engage with the council giving constructive feedback as to why they may not agree with certain proposals

Warsop has to develop and move on, it can neither go back to the good old days or stay as it is, the question is how fast and to what extent our town Town should develop and at what cost

According to the plan, the Welbeck pit site is earmarked for industrial development, which I don't have a problem with as it's always been an industrial site and we need to create employment here.

Westy, as you have already pointed out, we've seen a lot of development here on green belt land in our generation. How much more farmland will get swallowed up by housing and how long before Warsop joins up with Woodhouse? The current policy of not spoiling the outlying villages, ie Meden Vale, Church Warsop etc is a good one but it's only valid until 2030. After that it could all change and we could see all our parish joined up before long.

Yes people are naturally resistant to change but we have to house people and if there's a demand for more homes then we have to build them. I don't want to spoil our countryside but I don't have a better solution than the one put forward in the plan. No, we can't go back to the good old days and we can't stand still either.

A lot of people went to the meeting and a lot of people are unhappy too. Think I'm selfish if you must but these houses if built will take away a view of 4 miles of countryside, have houses overlooking me and other neighbours ,peace and tranquillity.This is also going to be affordable housing,500 houses the possible total so a bare minimum of 500 extra cars if there's just 1 per household. I was told that a traffic officer had viewed the junction and doesn't believe this influx of vehicles will cause a problem. I also mentioned 1000 minimum of extra population would cause more problems at an always busy doctors surgery. The reply was if there was a problem then they would look into expansion on that front. What about schools? Do the have room also to accommodate so many new pupils.Where are all these people going to be employed too? Where is the sudden influx of jobs going to come from to accommodate so many people? We haven't even gone into the environmental issues with 500 homes being built surrounding the Hills and Hollows. And the fact the fields have the risk of flooding due to there being solid ground not far beneath the soil. This water will possibly either flood Stonebridge Lane or the old Sookholme country lane. Warsop will soon be up in arms if the river ends up full of building sand etc.The questions go on and on, we have set up a Facebook group in protest against the development and there are many reasons on there why it shouldn't go ahead. I will post the link later if ok. It is for objections only, we have until 22nd February to get in our objections so the page is not set up for debating the pro's and cons.

Last edited by dcj on Thu Jan 14, 2016 8:21 am, edited 2 times in total.

Regarding the proposed buiding of the houses at Sookholme Lane/ Sookholme Drive area, I expected this to have happened at least 10 years ago, as it seemed like the most natural site to expand Warsop.I was also expecting to read that they were proposing to build on the field between Tissington Avenue,Church Warsop, to join it up to the back of the houses on Egmanton Road, Meden Vale.The biggest surprise is the following item:WDC3(b)Church Street (car park) - 0.04 hectares6.35 This site has great visibility from the A60 mainroad, and pedestrian links to the High Street. It offerspotential for a retail unit of approximately 300 squaremetres although development would involve the loss ofaround 15 car parking spaces.Firstly, why would they even consider taking 16 much needed car parking spaces to build retail premises, when we can't even half fill the empty ones that we already have, and secondly, Why is this car park called the Church Street car park, when the street has no name (proposed Robert Bye Way)?

What do local residents think about the new industrial park planned for the former Welbeck Colliery site, it will be accessed both from the A616 as well as Elkesley Road bringing much needed jobs to the area, which I hop will be for local residents

Another area earmarked for development is the old station site

Th old Station used to have the Kennings Oil deport( Remember the 3 green storage units) which employed about 8 people and the Permanent Way Engineering works for British Rail at the old station which had a gang of about 8 workers, a timekeeper the Permanent Way Engineer and two inspectors and looked after the railway from High Marnham to Langwith

Cllr S. Moody stated that people are concerned about the ideas in the Local Plan but that’s all they are at the moment, no planning applications have been submitted as of yet. He informed the member of public that the Local Plan is not at a formal state for the council to make decisions. The Chairman stated that this consultation document by MDC planning has been worked on since 2003. He explained that once the Planning Authority accepts the Local Plan (Oct 2016 following public consultation process) Developers are able to look at areas designated within the plan suitable for building. If a developer comes forward with a Planning Application it would be dealt with by the usual planning process. If a large development proposal was to come forward for Greenfield land down Sookholme Lane, it would take considerable time to go through the Planning system and could ultimately be a decision taken by the secretary of state or even a judicial review.

If these are such exciting times for Warsop, why do so few people know about it? Why are people having to find out by hearsay whether on the street or on Facebook? Why didn't MDC put any posters up on roads such as Hammerwater Drive that are going to be affected by the rise in traffic in a congested area? Why were there only posters put up in the town centre regarding the proposed retail developments and nothng about a possible 500/1000 cars moving into these developments? Why, when MDC are keen to hear the views of the Warsop population did they only leave 100 consultation forms for a population of 10,000 plus? And why did MDC put a bad link on their consultation form for people to voice their opinions online? And why do MDC state that the developers are eager to get on with the building work?As for the most natural site to build on, there are plenty of fields on the other side of the railway line which could be built on,where traffic will go straight on to the A60 rather than having heavy traffic on Vale Avenue, Sookholme Lane ,Road and building on them would also have no effect on the Hills and Hollows. https://www.facebook.com/groups/945197002239621/ We have done a poll and a survey that is up and running on our page Let Warsop Speak. Feel free to join if you wish.